Automatic capjaier-tsipping mechanism



APPLICATION FILED DEC. 2, 918A Patented Nov. 18, 1919.

ALBERT I). MQCU'LLOUGH, 0F FAIRBURY, NEBRASKA.

AUTOMATIC CARRIEB-TRIPPING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 18, 1919.

Application filed. December 2, 1918. Serial No. 264,959.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT D. MOCUL- LOUGI-I, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fairbury, in the county of Jefferson and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements .in Automatic Carrier-Tripping Mechanism, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to reapers and binders and more particularly to the bundle carrier tripping mechanism thereof.

In the ordinary binder, the bundle carrier is tripped by latch mechanism which in turn is actuated by a pedal or analogous device. In other words, the carrier tripping mecha nism is manually actuatable. As a consequence of this, the driver of the binder has not only to watch out for his horses and properly steer the machine, but he must at all times keep track of the number of bundles on the carrier so as to trip the carrier when a suitable number of bundles have been deposited thereon and where a number of binders are operated at one time by means of a tractor, as for instance on the large wheat fields of Canada and the lVestern United States, there is a great loss of time and money, for the reason that it is necessary that there should be a number of men to handle the tractor and one man on each of the binders. Thus where there were six binders and one tractor, one man would be required to handle the tractor and six men, one for each binder.

The general object of my invention is to obviate the inconvenience above pointed out by providing an automatic mechanism for tripping the carrier, thus doing away with the necessity of a manual operation of the tripping mechanism.

A further object is to provide a mechanism of this character in which the tripping is accomplished by means of an attachment which may be readily applied to practically any form of binder now on the market.

Still another object is to provide a mecha nism of this character which is operated by means of the usual draw bar or connecting rod operating the needle shaft.

A further object is to provide an automatic carrier tripping mechanism which automatioally trips the bundle carrier after a predetermined numberof bundles havebeen gathered on the carrier.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein 7 Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of'a binder with my carrier tripping mechanism applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the Shaft 10;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the carrier and the arm 21.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that I have illustrated only that part of the mechanism of a binder which is necessary for an understanding of my invention. In these drawings, 10 designates the ordinary needle shaft of abinding machine. The particular connection between this needle shaft and the needles and the particular character of the needles forms no part of my invention. This needle shaft carries upon it a radially projecting arm 11 which is connected to the draw bar 12.

This rod 12 is connected to a wheel 13 mounted upon the shaft 14. Mounted upon the needle shaft 10 in proximity to the path of movement of the draw bar 12 is a wheel 15 having thereon a plurality of spokes 16 illustrated as four in number. The wheel has a rim, of course, and mounted upon that rim in equidistant relation, and midway be tween the spokes are the ratchet teeth 17 there being a ratchet tooth between each pair of spokes. These ratchet teeth are disposed with their inclined faces in the direction of rotation of the wheel.

Carried upon the wheel at one point of its circumference and disposed midway between two of the ratchet teeth 17 is a trip lug 18. This trip lug may extend radially from the wheel or it may extend parallel to the shaft 10 or in any other desired position depending upon the character of the machine to which the attachment is applied. The bundle carrier 19 is of any usual or suitable type, and includes a rock shaft 20 having thereon an arm 21. Mounted upon the frame 22 of the machine is a latch 23 which engages with the arm or equivalent element 21, this latch dropping down by gravity or being urged into its operative position by a spring and engaging with the arm or equivalent element 21 to hold the carrier in its bundle supporting position. Now when in the rotation of the wheel 15, the trip lug 18 engages the latch or dog 23 it will depress one end of the latch and disengage the latch from the arm or equivalent element 21 permitting the bundle carrier to drop and discharge the bundles carried thereon. The bundle carrier is returned to its normal position by means of a spring or any other suitable mechanism, usually found in binding machines.

F or the purpose of giving a step by step rotation to the wheel 15 T mount upon the draw bar 12 a dog 2 which is illustrated as a leaf spring attached to the draw bar and bent so as to engage with the spokes 16, one at a time. If no impediment is ofiered to the rotation of the wheel 15 the dog will by its engagement with the spoke, cause a rotation of the wheel through a quarter turn, while the shaft 1 1 is making a complete oscillation, but if the movement of the wheel 15 be impeded the dog 24: will be withdrawn from its engagement with the spoke and will move over and into engagement with the next successive spoke and then upon the return movement of the draw bar or connecting bar 12 the wheel will be rotated still farther through a quarter revolution.

Thus assuming that the spokes are dis posed in quarter-ing relation to each other, there will be a quarter rotation of the wheel for each reciprocation of the connecting rod 12, the wheel being prevented from reverse movement by a pawl 25 mounted upon the frame 22. This pawl 25 permits the movement of the wheel 15 in a counter-clockwise direction but prevents any reverse movement of the wheel in a clockwise direction.

It will be seen that by this mechanism the bundle carrier will be tripped once for every four oscillations of the shaft 14, in other words, four bundles will gather upon the bundle carrier before it is tripped and that this tripping occurs autoi'uatically when four bundles have been so gathered. lt will be obvious that by increasing the number of. spokes on the wheel and decreasing correspondingly the throw of the connecting rod 12, that more bundles may be allowed to accumulate upon the bundle carrier before the carrier is tripped.

It is obvious that this mechanism may be modified in many ways to suit it to different conditions of service and to adapt it to use with difierent forms of machine, without departing from the spirit of this invention. 1 have illustrated this invention as applied to a particular form of binder and l have illustrated it as applied to the shaft 10 by means of a wrist pin tapped into the end of the needle shaft and screwing therein by means of a left hand thread. It is obvious however that the needle shaft of the machine may be lengthened so as to mount the wheel thereon.

I claim 1. In a binder, a bundle carrier, a latch member holding the bundle carrier from shifting to its discharge position, and mechanism actuated by the operating mechanism of the binder for tripping the bundle carrier at predetermined intervals, and including a rotatable member having a tripping lug thereon for engaging the latch member and tripping it, and means for giv ing a step by step rotation to the rotatable member, said means including a reciprocating rod, and a member on said rod engageable with the rotatable member upon a. movement of the rod in one direction but disengageable from the rotatable member upon a movement of the rod in the opposite direction.

2. A binder mechanism including a bundle carrier, a latch holding the bundlecarrier from tripping to its discharge position, a needle shaft, a reciprocating rod rotatably mounted at one end, an arm mounted on the needle shaft and operatively engaging said rod a spoked wheel mounted on the needle shaft and having a tripping lug adapted to engage with the latch to release the carrier upon a rotation of the wheel in one direction, means for preventing a reverse rotation of the wheel, and a dog mounted upon the reciprocating rod and adapted to yieldingly engage the spokes of the wheel.

3. A binder mechanism including a transverse sha-ft. bundle carrying fingers pro-- jecting from the shaft, an arm extending upward from the shaft, a spring engaging the arm and holding the shaft with the fingers in a horizontal position, a latch engaging said arm, a needle shaft, a wheel mounted on the needle shaft and having lugs, said wheel being provided with a tripping lug projecting from the periphery of the wheel and adapted to engage said latch to release it upon a rotation of the wheel in one direction, a pawl engaging said lugs and preventing the rotation of the wheel in the opposite direction, a rotatable member, and a connecting rod operatively connected to said rotatable member and said wheel to rotate them.

in testimony whereof I hereunto afiiX my signature.

ALBERT D. McCULLOUGl-I, 

